Cheated Hearts
by Emmi Metallium
Summary: Bisexual and sarcastic seventeen year olds Xelloss and Lina have been best friends since kindergarten. They consider themselves a family, they protect each other, and listen to each other. They have been cheated out of love since they first started high school, and have decided this year, to just be done with it. New friends are overrated anyway! XelLina. Rated M
1. Prologue

Lina Inverse and Xelloss Metallium met in kindergarten.

It was his fault really, he had convinced his parents to let him go to school in a skirt.

It was a beautiful garment, really. It was a milky white color, with bright colored purple swirly hearts across it. There was even lace at the ends.

Xelloss was so happy with it, he had worn it almost everyday that week.

Then, the five year old just _had _to wear it to school.

All of the other children had been picking on him all day. Then, in the school yard, things went from bad to worse.

They cornered him, between the tree and the building.

They grabbed at his dress, tried to pull it off of him, almost ripping it.

He was sobbing, cursing the existence of that beautiful skirt, when suddenly, there was a loud, very female shout.

"HEY YOU KNUCKLEHEADS LEAVE THAT KID ALONE!"

One of the male children turned to her.

"And just who are you?"

"I am Lina Inverse! The beautiful invincable intelligent and not to mention wonderful sorcery genius supreme!" she bellowed with a smile.

Xelloss felt his face heat up. She was beautiful, so...confident, full of so much power, and grace. Her fiery red hair was wind tossled. Her ruby colored eyes were glossy.

She was so perfect.

"Wait up minute...she thinks she's a witch?" one of the little boys asked. "She's playing some weird pretend game!"

"Let's beat her up!"

The tiny red-head only smirked.

"I'd like to see you try!"

The other children were frightened by that, and after a while, they ran across the playground away from them.

Lina walked up to him carefully, and helped him up off the ground.

"What's your name kid?"

"Xelloss..." he whispered.

"Well, it's real nice to meet ya! I like your skirt by the way!" she smiled.

He looked at the ground, bashfullly.

"C'mon! Let's go snag some swings before those idiots steal em' all!"

That was how they became best friends.


	2. Chapter 1

Xelloss' eyes snapped open.

Blue Jeans by Lana Del Rey blasted though his phone speakers.

Christ. He was late.

He tumbled out of bed and into the bathroom.

The teenager combed his hair in record time and managed to put on his black skinny jeans and lavender t-shirt in no time, as well.

Soon, he was out the door.

Lina looked the same way she did every day.

Combat boots tied tightly at her shins, patterend jeans ripped, fitting tightly at her hips, band t-shirt hanging loosey around her slim torso, red hair wild and wind tosseled, and thick black eye-liner around her beautiful ruby colored eyes.

It was a sight that never failed to take Xelloss' breath away.

"Someone's late today." she commented as she slapped him playfully on the arm. "Were you up late partying?"

"I only wish." he said, before kissing her on the cheek.

They started walking to class, arms hooked together.

This is how it had been for ten years.

They protected each other, they loved each other. They were a family.

In Xelloss' eyes, Lina was more the protector, the fighter. The brave soilder willing to fling herself into battle. Xelloss was the supporter, the one who felt, the one who listened.

"So, has your mom bitched out on you since last week?" Lina broke his train of thought, toying with her nose ring.

He smiled at her and then turned his face back to the hallway ahead of them.

"Not really, I don't think she really cares about anything I do anymore."

She nodded in understanding, and then they were at Lina's homeroom.

"I'll see ya at lunch, Xel, okay?" she said, and gave him a quick hug.

He wrapped his arms around her tightly. Then, he let her stalk off to class.

Lunch was always an interesting time.

Lina and Xelloss used to have other good friends; Zelgadis, Amelia, Valgaav, Emily and even Fillia at one point.

The problem was, that each one of those people at broken both of their hearts at one point.

Xelloss and Lina were both so very bisexual.

Now, after getting cheated on, taken advantage of, and shited on in general, they were both just done with the human race.

Zelgadis had been an okay boyfriend to Xelloss, but then it turned out he wasn't even interested in guys and so he dated Lina, and then stomped on her heart by cheating on her with Amelia.

So...they just decided to stop. Friends made everything too complicated.

The pair sat in the back of the cafeteria, listening to music together, one ear phone in each of their ears.

Some days it was Xelloss' turn to pick, and some days it was Lina's. The rule was you had to deal with whatever song was on, you couldn't change it, but you COULD make fun of it all you wanted.

They would quietly judge everyone in the lunch room, giggleing and almost falling out of their chairs until it was time for class.

Xelloss would always look forward to lunch time.

He sat down in his usual spot, and waited for Lina to waltz into the cafeteria.

As she walked in, he noticed some guy talking to her. He looked smug, she looked pissed off.

She took her seat and Xelloss shot her a glance.

"What was that about?"

"Oh, they were just calling me a dyke. The usual." she snarked.

Xelloss raised his eyebrows.

"That's cute. Couldn't they come up with something better?" he asked.

"Ditto. At his point it's just annoying." she took out her lunch and began to devore it. She always did that.

Xelloss leaned back in his chair and stared at the table. No matter how stupid the things people said to Lina were, it still really bothered Xelloss. He wanted to go remove all of their organs and cook them until they were crispy. Then, eat them for breakfast.

But he didn't do that, because it's illegal, and bad.

He looked over at the fiery-haired teenager. She had finished her meal and was fidgeting with a straw wrapper. It was adorable.

Class was over for the day, and Lina and Xelloss headed into the hallway.

Then, they reached Xelloss' locker.

Now, he would've been able to stop Lina's freak out if he had had the time, but...

"WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK I'M GOING TO MURDER THOSE DICKBAGS IF ITS THE LAST THING I DO!"

Spray painted across Xelloss' locker were the words; 'Die Faggot'

"Now Lina-"

"NO! I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL THEM!"

She started running in the opposite direction, towards the locker rooms. She left Xelloss in the middle of the hallway.

Then, Lina Inverse actually waltz right into the boys locker room and punched Gourry Gabriev in the face.

He squealed like a little girl, covering his bleeding nose.

"What the hell? What are you doing?" someone shouted.

"Now, Mr. fucking I'm everything blondie, I don't know if it was you or one of your fucking goons that did that to Xelloss' locker, but you better fucking fix it and apoligise or I'll kill you and your family. "

There was a tense sielence throughtout the locker room.

Then, Lina glared at them all, and spun on her heel, and got the hell outta there.

She found Xelloss waiting for her outside the locker rooms.

He gave her a concerned glance, and then eyed her hand.

"Your hand..." he gasped. "Did you get in a fight?"

She gave him a confused look and then realized her hand was bruised and shaky.

"Oh. I just punched Gourry in the nose. They were too scared to fight back." she explained and fixed her nose ring.

Xelloss sighed and lead her away.

After school, every day, Xelloss and Lina would go to her house and sit on the roof and smoke cigarettes.

They would talk about everything, or nothing. It didn't really matter.

They just enjoyed being safe.

Xelloss' mother was verbally abusive, and Lina's sister worked all the time. Her parents abandoned them, and Luna was about twenty six.

Basicallly, they only had each other.

"It worries me when you do that." Xelloss said.

She looked at him.

"Do what?"

"Get into pointless fights."

"It _worries _me when you let dicks walk all over you." she took a drag.

Xelloss sighed and leaned his head on her shoulder, he glared at the sky.

At least he had Lina.


	3. Chapter 2

"Hey Lina."

Lina looked up from her notebook which she had been doddleing in.

They were in the cafeteria. It was lunchtime.

"What Xel?" she asked, glancing at him.

"Check out Gourry's new main squeeze." he gestured in the direction of the jock table, where Sylphiel Nels Lahda was perched on the blondes lap.

"Pfft." she snorted. "Oh boy, this should be interesting."

He smiled at her as she contiuned to sketch some strange demonic creature and down her soda.

"We should go get coffee after class." he announced.

"I'm cool with that." she bit on the end of her pencil and looked up at him.

She smiled and poked him in the nose before finishing off her soda.

Lunar Hearts was a small coffee shop downtown, and interesting enough people hung around the place. It was pretty quiet, and not too expensive.

They played good music, which was a big plus in Xelloss' book.

He and Lina took a seat in a booth, in the sun near a window and ordered lattees.

They had been friends for such a long time that it really didn't matter what they talked about at this point, Lina had a way of making him laugh.

The two teenagers sat there for about an hour, just giggleing about mindless things and making fun of people who passed by.

Then, there was this magical moment. The sun illiminuted Lina's face, making her eyes sparkle and her hair a few more shades intense. Xelloss' breath caught in his throat, and he thought that maybe she was the most thing in the universe.

That wasn't the first time. He had been having these little Lina montages a lot lately.

It was starting to make him a bit concerned.

Then, she started humming and his heart just about burst. How could one human be so adorable?

"Ooh, Home...let me come hooome." she sang softly as she fidgeted with her straw wrapper.

His eyes widened as she smiled at him and layed her hand across his.

That wasn't a weird thing. They touched each other all the time, it was innocent, it was familar, it was comforting, most of the time...

So why did it make his face heat up this time?

"Xel are you okay?" Lina asked.

He snapped out of his daze.

"I-Er- yes. I am quite alright." he scratched the back of his neck, a nervous expression on his face.

"Whatever, Fruitcake." she rolled her eyes and took one last sip of her latte.

Xelloss Metallium was fucked.

Xelloss' mother wasn't awake when he got home that night.

Thank _fuck. _

He really didn't have the energy to deal with her at a time like this.

He quietly made his way to his room and shut his door with a soft click.

Xelloss let his messenger bag fall to ground with a plop.

He stripped off his t-shirt and flopped onto his bed and stared at the ceiling.

Today proved it.

There was something seriously wrong with him.

Did he have some _other _feelings towards Lina that he just hadn't realized were there until recently? Or had this just come about now?

He was almost an adult, and he was almost positive it wasn't just teenager hormones.

Xelloss had never been any good with his own emotions. He could read other people like a book but when it came to himself? Nope. Nothing.

The thing about that was, that Lina was the same way. Completely oblivious to her own emotions. She was such a selfless creature, even though she pretended to be concieted she was the farthest thing from it.

He had gotten to know her very well over all this time, and although neither of them at really developed much personality until fourth grade, they always sort of had this mutal understanding.

If he really did have feelings for her, would that screw there whole relationship to hell? Yup.

He covered his face with his hands and took a deep breath. He liked the darkness.

Xelloss got up, got his Ipod and headphones, flicked off the lights, and kicked off his shoes, and then burrowed under the blankets.

Overthinking the matter certainly wouldn't help matters.

Xelloss had really been acting weird lately.

Lina was working out the last few tangled in her hair with the brush, when she got a text.

It was from him obviously.

**From: Xelloss the mysterious fruitcake ;) **

**Sent: 10:24 **

**Message- Goodnight My Dear. 3 **

Okay, that was pretty normal at least, but she was pratically his sister.

She could see through it all.

He had been getting all flustered around her as of late, and spacing out at her all the time. It was kinda creepy.

It was disconcerting.

She sighed and set the brush down, and typed a quick reply.

**You, are emotionally disturbed and we are talking about it tomorrow! :( NO ESCAPEING! Goodnight Fruitcake. :) Kisses! Stay safe!**

Xelloss was shaking with fear the next morning.

What the hell was happening with him?

He wasn't going to tell Lina his theory. That was for sure.


End file.
